Hostile architecture: an uncomfortable urban art – in pictures

Julius-Christian Schreiner’s Silent Agents series, shot in London, Paris, Innsbruck and Hamburg, depicts examples of ‘hostile architecture’: subtle interventions in urban spaces designed to hinder people’s use of them

Main image:
Bollards in a covered corner next to the entrance of a Carrefour supermarket in Paris.
Photograph: Julius-Christian Schreiner

Tue 21 Aug 2018 06.30 EDT
Last modified on Mon 3 Sep 2018 06.13 EDT

Innsbruck

Around “museum street”’ in the city centre, street poles have metal structures that were first installed after authorities complained about too many bicycles in the area. These installations are probably there to prevent people locking bikes to the poles

Hamburg

Paris

Near the Porte de la Chapelle Métro station is a refugee counselling camp without shelter. Hundreds of people are forced to sleep on the bare ground. Authorities installed these stones under a nearby bridge to prevent people from sleeping underneath it. Artists visited and engraved them with phrases such as “in memory of those who did not arrive” and “
egalite”

London

Paris

A decorative stone patch, in the covered entrance area of a building, that prevents people from finding rest there. The stones are also very difficult to clean, leaving these structures constantly dirty